The pilot episode opened with David Alan Basche's (Oh Grow Up) narration: "I'm married to three women, my wife and her two sisters, because when you marry a woman with sisters...its a package deal." This sets up the series and the stories that we are in for. The show is basically told from his perspective as the narrations are sprinkled throughout the series. They actually act similar to those scene opening subtitles used in Frasier.

Basche plays Steven, the very tolerant husband of Bess (Katherine LaNasa, Murder at the Cannes Film Festival) who is the oldest of the three sisters and as LaNasa describes, "I'm the mothering one." Bess also happens to be a beauty queen and very pregnant at the moment. And judging from the ads she's going to have a very humorous episode where she gives birth.

Peter is brother-in-law of Bess' two polar opposite sisters. Annie (A.J. Langer, My So-Called Life), the youngest of the three, is still searching for her place in life as well as a way to make enough money to pay her rent. Selling her eggs on eBay is among the many options she considers. The third sister is Nora (Vicki Lewis), who has a very dark outlook on life and is brutally honest. Her sarcastic outbursts are by far the best part about the series because rarely do you see them coming. Actually, you know something is going to come out of her mouth, but it never seems to be quite what you would expect.

At one point Nora unwillingly agrees to a blind date that Bess sets up for her and Nora introduces herself by saying, "Hi, I'm sardonic to the point of bitter, haven't had sex in two years and my gay ex-husband isn't gay. If, armed with that knowledge, you feel capable of proceeding with the date, that' fine. Or we can pack it in now and get on with our lives - its your call." Then she proceeds to offer him crab cakes and storms off into the kitchen.

Lewis said in an interview that "these three sisters are funny, strong and vulnerable" and its evident in the acting and writing that, although none of them will acknowledge it, they all really do need each other. They seem to feed off each other, they know just how far they can push the others without going too far and a lot of humour comes out of it. A lot of the comedy winds up working so well because, however you slice it, the characters cover every extreme and no matter who you are, you'll be able to find yourself in at least one of them.

Its a very good cast lead by Lewis' Nora who quite obviously holds the family together in her own demented way. It is obvious that without this successful casting the show would not have worked. Langer said of the casting, "One of the things that made us realize that we really clicked is because we were immediately giving each other a hard time. Nobody laughs harder or fights harder than sisters."

Their parents, Honey and George (Dyan Cannon, Ally McBeal and Peter Bonerz, The Bob Newhart Show) are highly underused, at least in the pilot; they were only featured in about two short scenes. And it's too bad because they have a lot of potential within their characters. Some of the ads for upcoming episodes feature the two of them a little more and they look it appears as though they're getting some pretty good lines in.

The pilot episode closed with Steven's voiceover: "And that's how I wound up with three sisters in my bed, which is a lot less erotic than you think since I was sacked out on the couch. I guess it's just something we guys don't understand - all the fighting, all the hugging..." Thus begins another well made replacement series and I think that with, the addition of Three Sisters on Tuesday's schedule, NBC earns another "Must-See" night of comedy!

Robert Bach is a writer and musician and former entertainment editor for an East Coast publication.

Got a problem? Email Robert at onthebox@go.com